A wedding by candlelight — romantic. Makeshift cascades of extension cords and the distant but unmistakable buzz of a generator? Not so much.

But some brides won’t allow their wedding day to be undone by little things like power outages, gas shortages or the worst storm to hit New Jersey in modern history.

Katie Kamps of North Brunswick and Nick Prochilo of Colonia had planned an elegant Saturday night affair at the Shadowbrook in Shrewsbury. A week ago, with Hurricane Sandy approaching, Kamps worried that it might rain on her wedding day. "That was my first bratty bride moment," she said. "If I could go back to that being the worst of the problem, I would."

She still believed the show would go on until Wednesday, when she reached Shadowbrook staffers and discovered the power was out, and that their vendors and suppliers were equally hamstrung. "I called my mom and had that devastated, hysterical moment of reality," Kamps said.

She and Prochilo quickly decided to postpone the reception until Dec. 1, but their pastor will marry the couple today in an intimate, informal ceremony followed by dinner … somewhere. As of yesterday afternoon, they still hadn’t found a place.

They will still leave for their honeymoon Monday as scheduled, she said. "I didn’t want to celebrate being a newlywed without being able to say we’re newlyweds."

The Shadowbrook had to postpone seven weddings, but Suzanne Monaco, the owner’s executive assistant, said that for the most part, the families were understanding.

"We couldn’t give them the party they were expecting," she said. "Even if we had power, people couldn’t get here."

In fact, the Rosewood in Edison had its power restored Thursday, but one couple set for this weekend still postponed their wedding. "I talked to them this morning, and we were all gung-ho, and they started calling their guests and found that really no one could make it," general manager Patty Malone said, with the gas shortage being the driving factor.

Of the 11 weddings scheduled with Frungillo Caterers this weekend, only four families canceled. Three of the weddings moving forward are at the Villa at Mountain Lakes, which has been without power for days after its backup generator was struck by a car in the thick of the storm.

As of yesterday afternoon, the company has gone through 2,500 pounds of dry ice and laid "miles" of extension cords, while their cooks worked with propane-fired convection ovens and out of refrigerated trucks, Robert Frungillo said.

One electrician had to disconnect the hard-wiring of the main chandelier in order to hook it up to the generator.

"The easiest thing would be to lock our doors and tell our brides we just can’t do it," Frungillo said. "This is the craziest thing I ever went through."

Toms River wedding planner Kathi Evans, of All the Best Weddings and Celebrations, said there are still venues and vendors that have power and are willing to work with brides, particularly if they’re willing to consider a weekday celebration.

With the average cost of a wedding about $27,800, postponing can be financially problematic, but Evans said most vendors should refund deposits in cases like Hurricane Sandy.

"Anyone refusing to refund money is maybe someone you shouldn’t have been working with in the first place," she said.

She recommended a Facebook page set up by the wedding website theknot.com.

At "Helping Brides in the Wake of Hurricane Sandy," caterers, DJs, officiants and others are offering their services on short notice and some at a discount for those affected by the storm.